ElianWatch Archive: 4.00

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4.29.00

Thousands demonstrated against last week's Easter Raid. Local radio talk show host
Armando Perez-Roura likened the attack to the betrayal of Cuban freedom fighters at the
Bay of Pigs almost 40 years ago.

There was also another demonstration supporting the raid along with an airplane pulling a
banner that said, "America, love it or leave it -- comprende?"

I am deeply proud of the Cuban-American community. Today's peaceful march demonstrates this
group's love of justice and liberty. They have struggled for over 40 years to bring the
light of freedom to the dark, prison island many of them use to call home. Cuban-Americans
realize that while the U.S. did beat the Soviet Union, the Cold War wasn't a complete victory.
It is even more impressive to see how this community stands up to the majority of their
fellow citizens who supported Bill Clinton's and Janet Reno's acts of cowardess and arrogance.
When people are profiting from their 401(k)'s and are not taught enough history, it's
easy to ignore the horrible acts perpatrated 90 miles from U.S. shores and the devious
capabilities of a Communist dictator.

The struggle against totalitarian Communism must continue until freedom is allowed to thrive in
Cuba and Fidel Castro's brutal, thuggish regime is fully discredited. If Elian cannot live in
freedom in the U.S., then Cuba must be made free for Elian.

Ricardo Alarcon gets the award for most ironic quote when he said Elian and his father were
in "a new sort of prison" while staying at a Maryland mansion. This coming from a high-ranking
leader of a prison island where thousands (including Elian's dead mother) risk their lives
escaping there to come to the U.S.

He should be flattered the U.S. emulated the tactics of his government.

The Washington Times's editorial board wonders why the media is not complaining about
the lack of access to Elian. They also rebut the Justice Department's claim that Elian won't
suffer persecution if returned to Cuba. The editorial notes Castro's plans to place Elian in
a Havana house filled with doctors and social workers where Elian will be "readapted" into
Cuban society.

Guess what? Bill Clinton based his stance against Elian on public opinion polls. Robert Novak
also reports that AlGore had access to those same polls so his stance might actually be one
of principle insead of politics.

Tod Lindberg thinks thinking of the father-son relationship as a catagorical imperative, a
dislike of immigration, and the supposed victory over Communism allowed many conservatives
to be caught sleeping on Elian's fight.

Why on earth is any dirty laundry of his -- whether it be true or false -- a matter that
deserves public airing? But this is what the attack machinery does: If some person gets
involved in a political controversy, he or she becomes fair game for this vicious process;
and this article about the fisherman shows how despicable the process can be.

The government continues to defend last Saturday's raid and demonize Lazaro Gonzalez's family
and their supporters. Officials say such a strong show of force was needed because their
intelligence said a number of people around Elian's Miami home had gun permits and/or criminal
records. What disturbs me is that the government used "aerial surveillance, covert agents and
local informers" to gather information. James D. Goldman who led the raid admitted that agents
were gathering intelligence "since day one." Lazaro's family, friends, and supporters have
been treated like drug dealers or terrorists, rather than the free Americans that they are.
Weapons rumors still do not justify Janet Reno's order to attack the home while negotiations were
taking place.

Goldman also said, "We entered into a very hostile environment and we needed that show of
force." Maybe the environment became hostile because you came in yelling and
screaming with guns.

Senate Republicans found an excuse to postpone hearings on the raid. Because the Justice
Department couldn't gather the requested documents in time, Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT) postponed
a hearing scheduled for next week. He didn't state when (or if) the hearing would be
rescheduled. This is a re-evaluation for Congressional Republicans. Some think hearings on this
would hurt politically. They have a point. Investigative hearings have not panned out well for
them (China-gate, Waco, Whitewater, etc.). However, Congress needs to exercise its oversite
authority. They just have to find a way to do it without making it look like a political
attack.

It takes someone who survived a Communist regime to tells how important freedom is. Zehao Zhou is
just that sort of person. He writes,

I watched with disbelief as a freedom-loving American public sided with a practicing Communist,
Juan Miguel Gonzalez, just because he was Elian's father. I was flabbergasted to see U.S.
Representatives Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, appearing on national
television speaking in favor of returning Elian from the land of the free to the land of
despair and hopelessness. I was dismayed to see Rev. Joan Campbell, former head of the National
Council of Churches, refusing to acknowledge that Cuba is not a free country where her fellow
Christians are persecuted. I found it surreal that Castro's government is in full agreement
with the Clinton Administration. Obviously, when the world's most notorious dictator and the
leader of the world's largest democracy see eye to eye, something must be wrong.

...

Anyone who would send Elian back to Cuba will have to settle it with their own conscience. I
have no doubt in my mind that Elian will be used by Castro as a propaganda tool for as long as
the regime there lasts. Elian will be made to feel ashamed of his mother who died for him. Juan
Miguel Gonzalez will have little to say about what should happen to Elian, but Fidel will.
Whatever will happen to Elian once he is sent back to Cuba will come back to haunt those who
sent him back.

Congrads must go out to 12 federal prosecutors and 13 staffers in the U.S. Attorney's Office
in Miami. Thursday, they went to work dressed in black to protest last Saturday's raid. "We
dressed in black to tell the Cuban-American community that not everyone is in agreement with
the actions taken," said one employee.

Miami businessman Armando Codina said the Lazaro Gonzalez family didn't get good advice
throughout the whole affair and that led to Janet Reno's actions. Codina fully supported
the family's efforts to keep Elian in the U.S. He disagreed with the tactics used.

More bad news for Elian's fate: the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Lazaro Gonzalez's
request for visits from them, their lawyers, and their doctors. If not that, then they wanted
an outside guardian for Elian. Instead, the court accepted the government's offer of periodic
reports from government doctors and social workers.

Juan Miguel also made a request to the court to remove Lazaro from the lawsuit. If that would
happen, Juan Miguel's next step would be to drop the case and go back to Cuba. The court
will wait until 5.11 to decide on the request.

Janet Reno spoke to the Miami mediators a few hours after the raid. Reno claims she was just
a broker between Juan Miguel and Lazaro Gonzalez and not "a decision maker." Yet, she was the
one who decided to launch the pre-dawn raid. Only she could order it, not Greg Craig,
and not Fidel Castro (who says a Cuban raid would have involved no guns, because the public
would be unarmed). Reno also said that the 10 minutes before the raid were the worst 10
minutes of her life. What about the first 10 minutes of seeing the flames engulf the Waco
compound in 1993? Eighty people died there. And she expects us to believe that attacking an
unarmed family in the early morning was one of her worst moments? She is sanctimonious,
pompous, and the worst Attorney General in the history of the U.S.

Juan Miguel wants the sole right to speak for Elian. In a motion filed with the 11th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, he said, "This father beseeches this court with all the
emotion and fervor of a parent protecting his son to let him raise his child in peace."
He also said, "Whatever the motives of (Elian's great uncle) Lazaro Gonzalez and his kin may
be, it is sadly obvious that Elian indeed has been made the unwilling pawn on the chessboards
of United States-Cuba relations, politics and innumerable other agendas." He's right about
that, but what he doesn't say is how much of a pawn he, himself, is. Nor does he mention that
the United States and Cuba are on the same side. It's just a family living in Miami who's
taking on this axis.

One of Elian's cousins and his former kindergarden teacher arrived in the U.S. to visit Elian.
They're here to create a "Cuban-style atmosphere" in the U.S. for Elian. That's code for
re-education and reprogramming. The Cuban government will now begin to make Elian believe that
his five months of freedom were horrible. While Elian's family and friends from Cuba can
see him, the people that took care of him for five months are still denied any contact.

They should have gotten a court order. They should have sought to hold the family in contempt.
And if the family refused to comply with the court order, then they could have issued contempt
citations and arrested the family. But I have a reason why they didn`t go for a court order.
They didn`t go for a court order because they knew they couldn`t get one.

A U.S. government doctor recommended that the family who raised Elian for five months not
be allowed to see the child until they reconcile their differences with Juan Miguel. This
gives the goons who control Juan Miguel all the marbles. They can constantly bring up objections
with the Lazaro Gonzalez family so they never get to see Elian.

If you have time to read only one piece on Elian, read Peggy Noonan's article. This is
probably the most beautiful piece of non-fiction I've ever read. Noonan imagines what
Ronald Reagan might have done if he were President now.

And some of us, in our sadness, wonder what Ronald Reagan, our last great president, would have
done. I think I know. The burden of proof would have been on the communists, not the Americans;
he would have sent someone he trusted to the family and found out the facts; seeing the boy had
bonded with the cousin he would have negotiated with Mr. Castro to get the father here, and
given him whatever he could that would not harm our country. Mr. Reagan would not have
dismissed the story of the dolphins as Christian kitsch, but seen it as possible evidence of
the reasonable assumption that God's creatures had been commanded to protect one of God's
children. And most important, the idea that he would fear Mr. Castro, that he would be afraid
of a tired old tyrant in faded fatigues, would actually have made him laugh. Mr. Reagan would
fear only what kind of country we would be if we took the little boy and threw him over the
side, into the rough sea of history.

He would have made a statement laying out the facts and ended it, "The boy stays, the dream
endures, the American story continues. And if Mr. Castro doesn't like it, well, I'm afraid
that's really too bad."

Tracy Scarpino cries out to the majority of the American public who wants Elian with his
father:

Nobody gets it. They see it only through American eyes. And his father is not free to speak his
mind because Castro is holding his family hostage in Cuba lest he should make one wrong move
over here. I wish that Elian's father could defect and then they could be together, but an
entire family in Cuba will be murdered if he stays.

Cuban officials want access to Elian at Carmichael Farm in Maryland. "We need access in case we need to
supply food or medicine," spokesman, Luis Fernandez said. They also need access to Elian to
persuade him to denouce the U.S. and his Miami relatives.

Cuban officials won't live on the property, but they will be allowed to visit. Along with the
officials, a teacher, cousin and pediatrician will come to the farm from Cuba with four of
Elian's Cuban schoolmates coming soon after. So, now, the process of "re-adaption" begins.
Don't be surprised if Elian "decides" to not ask for asylum and "wants" to go back to Cuba.

In other news, a federal court judge order that Elian cannot go onto any property where
diplomatic immunity is in effect. The judge is also about to "appoint someone, acting as a friend of
the court and special guardian ad litem to report to the court directly on the plaintiff's
(Elian's) condition and care as well as the circumstances of his custody." Elian's lawyers
haven't been able to see him since Saturday's raid and Greg Craig is opposing counsel in
Elian's legal fight.

Janet Reno faced the heat of Senators in a closed-door meeting. Afterwards, Sen. Connie Mack
(R-FL) was stunned. "The question that I have asked was the father informed of the possibility
of there being gunfire in the house and was he prepared to put his son at risk, a second time.
The answer I got back was yes, that he was. I am stunned by that," said Mack. "I cannot
honestly believe that during a time in which there were serious negotiations taking place and
that the father would in essence agree to sending armed men into a home in Miami to take his
son at gunpoint." Mack then demanded Senate hearings on the INS's use of force in the raid.

The government's flimsy excuse that they thought guns were present at Elian's Miami home
consisted of a security guard who had a concealed weapons permit and a veiled threat Marisleysis
may have made to INS people. Other than the security guard's weapon, no guns were seen being
brought into the house and none were found.

In this case, the Clinton administration circumvented a federal appeals court decision that
encouraged the relatives' case; instead, the can't-wait enforcers took the law into their own
heavy hands.

Safire also seems to agree with my contention that the family was set up by Reno:

When hostages are endangered, the government can trick the terrorists by stringing them along
and then striking in the dead of night with overwhelming force. Wrongly construing Elián to be
a hostage, Reno talked with the relatives' lawyers on the phone, supposedly negotiating, even
as her agents in body armor smashed down the door.

Yes, the administration has always had the power to decide Elian’s residency status. But
such decisions are not the rule of law. They are the product of presidential policy, and
such policies are subject to review and reversal, according to the Constitution. Yet, this
administration has argued that their policies are synonymous with irrefutable black-letter
law. Therefore, defiance of administration policy is the same as being a criminal. When
confronted with the fact that the law, as determined by the US Court of Appeals for the 11th
circuit, was not on their side, this administration sent armed soldiers into a citizen’s home.
The President did not exhaust "all alternatives," he exhausted all the alternatives that were
in his interest. Once those expired, he consented to the violent betrayal of people negotiating
in good faith.

President Kennedy hoped that relations with Cuba would be normalized as that nation began to
move towards freedom. He never would have imagined that the great step toward normalization of
relations would be a political assault on the Cuban refugee community, orchestrated by Fidel
Castro, and implemented by the American President. President Kennedy never would have dreamed
that the best day ever in Cuban-American diplomatic relations would come when Fidel Castro
exulted that the American President had ordered a Castro-style gunpoint kidnapping of a Cuban
refugee child.

Rush Limbaugh made a great point on his show today. Elian is being denied access to his lawyers.
When federal agents took Elian from his Miami caregivers they returned him to his father,
not Juan Miguel's lawyer Greg Craig. Rush wondered what damaging information Elian is
giving Craig. Craig has an obvious conflict of interest. He's representing Juan Miguel, not
Elian. I've never seen a legal case where a lawyer has access to the opposing client.

Miami leaders involved in the final negotiations between the government and the Miami Gonzalez
family thought they were very close to a deal. However, while this group was mediating,
federal agents
were preparing for the pre-dawn raid. After reading the USA Today story, it appears
Reno had no real intention of seeking a peaceful solution. The purpose of the final set of negotiations
was to lull the Miami family making the raid that much easier.

The Miami family agreed to give Elian back to his father. The stumbling points were where the
combined family would stay and how long the Lazaro Gonzalez family would be allowed to stay
with Elian. Juan Miguel (or his lawyer/handler Greg Craig) wouldn't move to a position where
the deal could be finalized. So, when Janet Reno, Eric Holder, Joe Lockhart, and other
government officials say that the Lazaro Gonzalez family didn't negotiate in good faith, don't
believe them. They need to justify their unjust use of force.

The New York Post comments on the hypocracy of the Clinton administration's "love"
of the rule of law:

More to the point, respect for the law in the Clinton administration happens only when it's
convenient for the president, and for Janet Reno, to have it happen.

Bill Clinton - only the second president in history to be impeached and the first ever to be
found in contempt of court, for which he was hit with a $90,000 fine by a federal judge -
preaching to Lazaro Gonzalez and his family about the supremacy of the law? Absurd.

Indeed, Clinton has long made clear his belief that when his political interests are at stake,
the law takes second place.

When U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled recently that the public release of private
letters from Kathleen Willey (who says the president forcibly pawed her in a hallway outside the
Oval Office), constituted "a criminal violation of the Privacy Act," here's what Bill Clinton
had to say about the rule of law:

"I never thought ... about whether [the Privacy Act] applied or not. It was the only way I knew
to refute allegations against me."

Dick Morris, who knows more about Bill Clinton's mind than anyone, thinks Clinton is afraid of
Fidel Castro flooding Florida shores with thousands of Cuban refugees. In 1995, when
Cuban jets shot down an unarmed Cuban exile plane, he told Morris, "If I make him [Castro] mad,
he'll dump the Cubans on me again. I've got to be careful on this one." That's why Clinton was
so insistent that Elian go back to Communist Cuba.

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) called for Congressional hearings on Saturday's
raid. This is much too little and way too late. Hastert has done nothing to get legislation
through Congress to make Elian a U.S. citizen or give him residency. Hastert feels Elian's
case should be determined in a family court, but has not nothing to help let this happen.
Hearings about the unjust use of government power is a proper thing to do, but Hastert and
the Republican leadership have sat on their hands for too long.

I've received e-mail on the "doctored" photos. After reading the messages and seeing the
father/son photos developed by the AP, I believe the pictures weren't faked. All throughout
this case, I've tried very hard to be intellectually honest. ElianWatch isn't propaganda that
will say anything to promote my agenda. I have told and will continue to tell it like I see it.
I don't need to use some conspiracy theory to make the case that Elian should remain free in the
U.S.

At the time Marisleysis Gonzalez made the claim that the photos were faked, she was in a state
of emotional distress. She and her family suffered the loss of the little child they gave so
much love to for five months. It is understandable to think Greg Craig (working for Fidel Castro)
would try such a deception. Craig is the same lawyer that said anything to defend Bill Clinton
in his impreachment trial. The Lazaro Gonzalez family should accept the fact that the photos are
real. They should hope that Elian is happy and safe, but they should also continue the fight to
defend Elian's rights.

George W. Bush on the pre-dawn raid:

Ours is a nation of laws, not guns. Custody disputes are resolved in the calm of a courtroom,
not in the terror of middle-of-the-night raids.

Arianne Horta survived the same boat trip that brought Elian to the U.S. She's now fighting
to bring her daughter to the U.S. The U.S. is waiting for the Cuban government to "release"
her. Castro's hypocracy is thick. While demanding that father and son be reunited, he
prevents mother and daughter from being together.

In an emotional press conference, Marisleysis Gonzalez pleaded to Juan Miguel to see Elian.
"I will not leave until I see this boy," said Marisleysis. She went on to describe what
happened in the pre-dawn raid Saturday.

She also disputed the accuracy of the first photos
of father and son. This discrepancy was first noticed by the Drudge Report. Later that day,
Juan Miguel's Castro-appointed lawyer, Greg Craig gave a roll of undeveloped film to the
Associated Press to be developed. The pictures showed Elian and his father happy together.
Conspiracy theories have abounded, but no real explanation has arisen to how Elian's hair
appears longer in the first father/son photo than in the photo of Elian being wisked away.
If there are any photographic experts reading ElianWatch, I would
love any serious
theories. You have to be able to back it up with some additional information because of the
anonymous nature of the Net.

Drudge is reporting that the Lazaro Gonzalez family is considering filing a civil rights
lawsuit against the U.S. government. It's based on this theory:

If the White House acted without a specific court order and without the 11th Circuit's go-ahead,
it puts them in line for a civil lawsuit by everyone strong-armed outside of the house and
those inside of it.

The government may have be able to cover themselves with a search warrant they got from a
federal judge in Miami.

The current condition of Elian is in serious doubt after the Drudge Report closely examined the
photos of Elian reunited with his father. If you compare the photo of Elian being taken from his
Miami home with the family picture provided by Greg Craig, you'll notice that Elian's hair
is longer and he isn't missing a tooth. The photos may be a fraud to make us think everything is
hunky-dory with Elian and his father. It is possible that Elian and his father are fine, but
relying on Greg Craig for truthful information is impossible.

Hours after the raid, Marisleysis and Lazaro Gonzalez flew to Washington, D.C. to try and
see Elian. They were accompanied by Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) to Andrews Air Force Base but were
denied entrance. They have scheduled a press conference for early this morning.

Based on some unsubstantiated rumors that there might be guns with demonstrators outside
or inside Lazaro Gonzalez's home, federal agents armed to the max raided the small Little
Havana home. Agents held family members and friends at gun point as other agents broke doors
and turned over furniture looking for Elian.

Kendall Coffey, an attorney for the Miami relatives, claims the raid took place while
the family was still talking to negotiators. "We were in the middle of
negotiations when they battered the door," said Coffey. "We were in communication with the
mediator handling negotiations and discussion with the government when they knocked the door
down." If that was the case, then the government set them up. They kept the negotiations going
so the raid would be a surprise.

Janet Reno is a coward. No peaceful attempt by agents was even attempted. Some will say the
government had no choice because Lazaro Gonzalez
said,
"They will have to take this child from me
by force." But in that same statement, he also said, "We will not turn this child over." Put
in that context, you can see the statement is just a continuation of the passive resistance
he and his family would take if Elian was removed.

This raid wasn't even the initial plan to remove Elian from his Miami home. The Miami Herald
reported that the original plan was to have a group of causually dressed agents enter the home
to take Elian. "No weapons drawn, no confrontations, nothing obtrusive," a high-level government source
said. "In that unlikely event, the Miami family has agreed to step aside. People have been
talking about this for months, but it only became serious in the past two weeks." The government
knew the family wouldn't forcibly stop Elian's removal. So, either the government source lied
about the plans or Janet Reno ordered the plans to be changed.

Anger is intense amongst Elian's defenders. That's understandable. I want all ElianWatch
readers (especially those in Miami) to know I will not condone any violence as retaliation for
this abuse of power. We are a civilized people. Violence shouldn't be used as a stress
reliever. We don't bash into houses with guns just to get our way. We're better than that.

What I do urge you to do is call, e-mail, and write your Congressmen and Senators. Tell them
you want them to pass a bill to make Elian a U.S. citizen. The Congress (especially the so-called
anti-Communist Republicans) have been sitting on their hands for too long. Here are some web
sites to help you find your Congressmen and Senators:

More pictures of what happened. See for yourself the force used to take a boy from his
unarmed family.

Another picture of
the federal agent pointing a gun near Elian.

A picture of a
female agent taking Elian from his home.

[NOTE: links to these pictures have been removed temporarily at the request of the AP. I will
respect the AP's intellectual property rights and find an outside source that can legally
display the photos.]

President Clinton gave the green light to use force in taking Elian from his Miami home.

Matt Drudge and the New York Times are reporting that Janet Reno has decided to remove
Elian from his Miami home. It could happen within the next 48 hours. Under pressure from
inside the administration, Reno decided to act.

"'The president wants the boy removed from the house,' Reno told a group gathered in her
fifth-floor conference room at the Justice Department," writes Drudge.

When the operation takes place, I strongly urge calm and restraint. We're all Americans, and
Americans don't resort to violence. We leave that to criminal, totalitarian thugs in places
like Cuba.

"That's what makes things so much harder here," said Michelle Lastre, a housewife from Little Havana who had brought her 1-year-old son Brandon to the vigil being kept by Cuban-Americans on the street outside Lazaro Gonzalez's house. "It's blood against blood."

Locals here say both men take their traditional role as family patriarch seriously and take as a personal affront any challenge to their authority.

"A group of Cuban exile pediatricians on Tuesday denounced comments by psychiatrists and other mental health experts giving medical opinions on Elian Gonzalez without having examined the boy."

Also in the Miami Herald story is Jorge Garcia speaking out in favor of keeping Elian in the U.S. In 1994, his lost his son, grandson, and six nephews when Cuban government boats sank the tugboat they were escaping Cuba on.

He also offered an explanation as to why Juan Miguel want to take Elian back to Cuba. "For reasons of loyalty and good standing to the [Communist] Party, and having a good job in tourism, the [Cuban government] has blackmailed him," Garcia said. "They told him the same thing they told me in 1994: 'We have for you a home in the suburb of Siboney because the family needs to be at peace and tranquillity.'"

Janet Reno said that today's appeals court ruling doesn't prevent her from taking Elian from
his Miami home. What is preventing Reno from acting is the crowd of defenders (and media)
surrounding the home.

The crowds outside Elian's Little Havana home broke out in cheers with many embracing each
other and others joining in prayer. The 11th Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that Elian cannot
leave the U.S. while his case is awaiting appeal.
"The true legal merits of this case will be finally decided in the future ... We intend to hear
oral argument," said the ruling.
The ruling doesn't prevent the Justice
Department from removing Elian from his Miami home and reuniting him with his father. When I
get a copy of the ruling I will link to it and comment. What the ruling does is keep Elian
here in the U.S. through May when the same Appeals Court rules on Elian's appeal.

Today in Geneva, a United Nations human rights forum denouced Cuba for its human rights
violations. Elian's supports used this to buttress their claim that Elian shouldn't be
returned to such an oppressive country. The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) said
in a statement, "At a time when the U.S. argues for the return of Elian Gonzalez to a nation
that enslaves its citizens and attempts to crush their will and hopes, this victory should
give pause to all those who yet fail to comprehend or accept the nightmare that is Fidel Castro
in the Cuban people's long dream to live with freedom and human dignity."

Because of the calendar, the government is unlikely to reunite Elian and his father this
week. This being Holy Week, and the anniversaries of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the firey end
to the Waco standoff, and the Oklahoma City bombing, emotions may run too high.

If Elian does return to Cuba, he won't be going back to his hometown. Instead of going to
Cardenas, he will be holed up in a government house in Havana. This blows another hole in
the argument of those who want to send Elian back to Cuba because of parental rights. In Cuba,
Elian doesn't belong to Juan Miguel, he belongs to the Cuban state. The house in Havan will be
the site of Elian's "re-education."

A pediatrician advising the INS told officials to immediately return Elian to his father
because he's "in a state of imminent danger to his physical and emotional well-being" by
being in Lazaro Gonzalez's home. Dr. Irwin Redlener fails to mention what the danger to Elian's
physical and emotional well-being would be by going back to Communist Cuba. He doesn't mention
that Cuba runs work camps where children cut sugar cane or make simple objects that
are sold by the government. Nor does he mention the thousands of informants used by
Castro's regime to spy on Cubans. Elian wouldn't even be Juan Miguel's child in Cuba. He would
be a "possession" of the Cuban government as a Cuban offical said a few weeks back.

Indeed, a 1978 Cuban law requires that parents raise children with a "communist personality"
and outlaws "influences contrary to communist development." At age 7, a child's milk ration
is cut off by the Cuban government. At age 11, children are taken from their parents, stay in
government camps where they are brainwashed into communism and endure forced labor. Parents
have no say.

60 Minutes aired an interview with Juan Miguel. He denounced allegations that he abused
Elian saying,
"They are lies totally." Juan Miguel objected to Fidel Castro's name being thrown into this
issue. "It's just me claiming my son. It's my son and not Fidel Castro's. It's a way of
bringing in Fidel Castro and making it political." And he said he doesn't want to live in the
U.S. In fact, he played up the myth that there's a plague of school shootings all over the U.S.
Then he praised Cuba's "free" education and health care, but said nothing about Cuba's human
rights violations.

If Juan Miguel was just Castro's mouth piece, he did a great job. (I only read the transcript
from CBS News' web site. I didn't see the interview on television.) He praised Cuba's educational
and health care systems and defended Fidel Castro. He also threw in the bit of making this
situation "political"--the standard line by those who want Elian returned. If he's speaking for
himself, he's sadly
unaware of the environment of his own homeland. He said Elian is his and "not
Fidel Castro's. Then how does he explain the recent comments by a Cuban official who said
Elian was a "possession" of Cuba? Or how does he explain that Cuban children must be brought
up to love the Revolution? If Juan Miguel doesn't really understand Elian's position in Cuban
society, it doesn't say much about the vaunted Cuban educational system.

But I have the feeling the interview will generate more public sympathy toward Juan Miguel and
embolden federal officials to reunite father and son.

According to my stats provider, Hitbox, I'm getting lots of readers from AOL. If you're on
AOL, let me know how you found ElianWatch. I wonder if someone at AOL linked to ElianWatch from
AOL's proprietary network. Email me at
shackbar@free-market.net.

Lazaro Gonzalez's family accused Juan Miguel of having a "violent nature" and abusing Elian's
mother. Juan Miguel denies the charges in an interview that will air on 60 Minutes
Sunday.

This smacks of desparation. Lazaro is desparate. Judge Moore ruled that any decision Janet
Reno made could stand legally, and their state custody case was thrown out. I feel for Lazaro
and his family. They thought U.S. institutions and the public would support protecting Elian's
human rights. Unfortunately, they were mistaken. Now, they resort to a claim by Juan Miguel's
former neighbor. But if they knew about Juan Miguel's violent past, why wait until now to
bring it up? It doesn't pass the smell test. All throughout this ordeal, I've tried my best
to be intellectually honest. I wouldn't resort to attacking Juan Miguel because I didn't know
what were his real motives and what were the desires of Fidel Castro. I want Elian to stay in
U.S. as much as anyone, but we have to keep the moral high ground. Ill-timed, unsubstantiated
attacks on Juan Miguel won't help the cause.

Juan Miguel has been receiving lots of guests, and they all are pro-Cuba. They all support
lifting the embargo against Cuba. The Cuban embargo is an issue in and of itself. What does it
have to do with the human rights of a little boy? Those people down in Miami (and in Wisconsin)
who want Elian to remain in the U.S. have nothing material to gain. They are just fighting to
protect Elian's rights. It's those groups who have ulterior motives who are using Elian's case
to promote their agenda. Which side is really playing politics?

Elian's lawyers are arguing that U.S. officials can't return him to Cuba because "human rights
treaties and anti-torture conventions bar U.S. officials from returning the boy to a repressive
regime such as Castros Cuba."

It's people like Juan Dominguez that scare me. He said he is willing to put his life on the
line to prevent Elian from being returned to Cuba. Elian has already lost his mother and is in
the middle of a fight to determine his future. The last thing this kid needs is to witness a
riot; even one intended to protect him.

Juan Miguel flipped the bird to protesters at the Maryland home he's staying at. During this
whole crisis, I have been giving Juan Miguel the benefit of the doubt. I didn't think he was
freely speaking for himself. However, such anger and hostility makes me wonder.

MSNBC's Jim Avila reported that Juan Miguel cried when he saw the home video of Elian telling
his father he doesn't want to go back to Cuba. How did Avila discover this? Avila's in Cuba, but
Juan Miguel is in Washington, D.C. Is Avila just regurgitating whatever the Cuban government
is telling him?

In a letter, the INS has told Lazaro Gonzalez that he's in violation of the law since he didn't
give up Elian last Thursday. The letter also stated that the government would order Elian to
remain in the U.S. if the U.S. Court of Appeals wanted him to stay in the U.S. during the legal
process. Otherwise, Juan Miguel would be free to take Elian back to Cuba. If Lazaro doesn't
win this appeal, the government will take steps to get Elian.

The letter didn't change anything. Lazaro still has Elian and the government still is saying
they will reunite him with his father. What the letter did do is begin to paint Lazaro as a
criminal so if an ugly confrontation does take place, the government would have some
justification.

The most likely scenario -- should negotiations break down completely -- would be for a large
number of immigration officers and U.S. marshals to establish a crowd-control perimeter around
the Little Havana home, and then for a small, mostly female corps of casually dressed agents to
approach the door.

"No weapons drawn, no confrontations, nothing obtrusive," the high-level source said. "In
that unlikely event, the Miami family has agreed to step aside. People have been talking about
this for months, but it only became serious in the past two weeks.

Lazaro Gonzalez's custody fight was thrown out of Florida state court. Judge Jennifer Bailey
said that "the [family] court's ability to reach that decision is derailed by the federal
government decision that he must return to Cuba, his homeland, and be with his father." This
goes back to Janet Reno's decision that only Juan Miguel can speak for Elian. With this
avenue blocked, Congress must act to make Elian a citizen. The boy cannot rely on the
courts. The law appears to be against them.

The Cuban government is upset with the home video where Elian says he doesn't want to go back
to Cuba. "It was clearly shown that Elian was criminally pressured to say these things without
meaning them," said one propagandist. They're not really mad at what Elian said, their mad that
the Miami Gonzalez family had the audacity to do it. Whether it was staged or not, the video
gave Castro's thugs a shot of their own medicine.

Mickey Kaus wonders if there's an agreement between Castro and Clinton. Castro took some rioting
prisoners from a Louisiana prison last December, and Clinton gives Fidel Elian. It's pure
speculation but don't underestimate this President.

Kate O'Beirne writes about what Elian will face if he returns to communist Cuba:

The bright, happy little boy racing around that fenced yard in Little Havana will face
the soul-crushing conformity of a totalitarian state. Because the school desk he left
behind has reportedly been turned into a "national shrine," any deviation by Elián from
what loyal young Communists must think would be ruthlessly suppressed. In the Soviet
Union, a "Stakhanovite" was someone who was willing to overfulfill work quotas at the cost
of his life. As a celebrated subject of the regime, Elián González will have to be the most
committed little Communist in Cuba, at the expense of his innocence.

The 11th U.S. Court of Appeals issued an order preventing federal agents from taking Elian
away from Lazaro Gonzalez's family. This prevented a confrontation between federal agents
and the host of protesters outside Elian's home. Today, Gloria Estafan and Andy Garcia came
to Little Havana to show their support for continued freedom for Elian.

Janet Reno has ordered Lazaro Gonzalez to take Elian to an airport today so he can be
reunited with his father. She was down in Miami yesterday meeting with the Miami family. Lazaro
is defiant saying, "We will not turn this child over, not in Opa-locka, not in any 'locka.
They will have to take this child from me by force." Some commentators has speculated that
this means Lazaro will actively prevent Elian's removal, but I see it as a continuation of
the passive resistance he and the Cuban-American will engage in if federal agents come to
take Elian. What I'm afraid of is some rogue protester doing something stupid. The vast, vast
majority of supporters encamped outside Elian's home are peaceful. The fear is what the one
or two trouble-makers might do. It does look like something will happen today.

What does freedom for Elian mean? National Review sees it as a way to "to vex and
humiliate Communist dictators and all others who boast themselves our enemies, to frustrate
their designs, to diminish them in the eyes of their own people, to hasten their downfall by
any means our laws and ethics permit."

Some would say that makes Elian a political pawn, a victim. Elian's not a political victim; he's
a victim of a brutal, oppressive communist dictator who wants this boy as a trophy to show
off to his serfs. If the pro-freedom side wins, Elian wins. If Castro's status is diminished,
all the better.

Elian will meet with his father in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. "There is an agreement
between the family and the Justice Department and Gregory Craig, the attorney for Juan
Miguel Gonzalez, that a meeting will take place tomorrow at a neutral location," Jorge
Mas Santos, president of the Cuban American National Foundation told reporters in Washington.

The Republican House leadership wants a meeting with Juan Miguel and his family Wednesday. At
the meeting he will "have the freedom to express your true feelings during your visit without
coercion and without intimidation."

What the leadership should also be doing is rounding up votes to pass a bill to make Elian, Juan
Miguel, and his family U.S. residents.

Drudge is reporting that Lazaro Gonzalez's family will not voluntarily give up Elian.
"Elian's Miami relatives appear determined to force federal agents to come to their
Little Havana home to get the boy," reports Drudge.

There is a large rift in the whole Miami community. In a poll, 50% of respondents said Elian
should remain in the U.S. When broken down, a large majority of Hispanic respondents want
Elian to stay, while large majorities of blacks and whites want him back in Cuba.

ABCNews.com posted the letter from the U.S. government to Lazaro Gonzalez saying they will
revoke Elian's parole and return him to his father. It also stated that a meeting will take
place today to discuss how the transfer of Elian would take place "in a manner that is
sensitive to the needs of Elian."

Greg Craig, Juan Miguel's Castro-paid lawyer, said Juan Miguel would stay in the U.S. through
the appeals process if "visas for his schoolmates and others are approved." The State
Department hasn't said whether the 28 total people requesting visas would be approved.

This will be Cuba's excuse to taking Elian back to Cuba as soon as he's reunited with his father.
Elian will be again a prison on Castro's communist prison, and the Cuban government will blame
the State Department for not allowing a bunch of school kids and communist psychologists from
indoctrinating Elian on U.S. soil.

But even more interesting in the NY Post story, Raul Saul Sanchez said he will not lead
protesters in obstructing federal officals from taking Elian from Lazaro Gonzalez's home.
"We will not create a violent confrontation ... We have a responsibility toward Elian's civil
rights, but also toward maintaining peace in the community," said Sanchez. Sanchez was previously
threatening to block Miami's airport and docks and set up a blockade of trucks around Elian's
home.

Cuban Americans in Miami are upset with the slanted coverage of Elian's supporters. The only
pictures most people see are of the one incident where a few dozen people broke through a
baracade. What most haven't seen are the peaceful protests in support of freedom for a little
boy.

Attorney General Janet Reno and other officials were on the Sunday morning talk-fests. All
stated that Elian would be reunited with his father this week. They all hope the reunion takes
place peacefully with Reno even stating that Lazaro Gonzalez's family would not violate her
ruling and release Elian. No details were said as to how, when, and where the reunion would
take place.

Lazaro Gonzalez's family received a letter from the government instructing them to meet with psychologists
Monday to determine how best to reunite Elian with his father. Then next week, Lazaro will
get instructions on the where and when of the reunion.

Juan Miguel met with Janet Reno Friday.
It's disturbing that Reno has met with Elian's grandmothers and now his father but has refused
to meet with Elian--the center of this whole issue. It seems Reno made up her mind a long time
ago and nothing will change it.

If Elian is reunited with his father, he will go back to Cuba. Even Janet Reno said "there is
nothing to stop" Juan Miguel from taking Elian back to Cuba before his appeal is heard. We are
near the endgame. Will Lazaro give up Elian? Will Elian's supporters allow Elian to be taken?
Will violence break out? All these questions will be answered soon.

Many have complained about the constant media lime-light Elian's been in. They have a point.
The persitent media presence outside Lazaro Gonzalez's home can't be the most positive part of
Elian's environment. But where is the outcry of how Juan Miguel Gonzalez always appears with
his infant son, Hianny? Castro's handlers are using the boy as a prop to show the American
public how much of a family man Juan Miguel is. What's the difference?

The Miami Herald's profile of Juan Miguel portrays him as a loyal communist and a loving
father. In a conversation with his cousin (and Elian's surrogate mother) Marisleysis Gonzalez,
Juan Miguel told her he didn't want to come to the U.S. "If I wanted to go for money and
possibilities, I would have been there long ago." Either Juan Miguel really is happy in Cuba, or
he just accepts his place there and fears the unknown of more "possibilites."

The Economist has a piece on the divisions over Cuban in the Cuban community. It also
talks about how the influx of new immigrants may have given energy to Elian's cause.

The title of the article is "The Tragedy of Elian," the biggest tragedies listed are Miami
losing the Pan-American Games and the Latin Grammy Awards. For the Economist the tragedy
is a minor loss in economic gain and prestige instead of the loss of Elian's human rights.

The INS is preparing to transfer custody of Elian from Lazaro Gonzalez to Juan Miguel. Officials
will be sending Lazaro a letter detailing how the transfer will proceed. Talks broke down
between the INS and Lazaro's lawyers. The government wouldn't guarantee Elian wouldn't be lifted
to Cuba "in the middle of the night." Government officials didn't get a guarantee that Lazaro
would turn over Elian if their appeal failed.

When asked a simple question by [Chris] Matthews as to whether Cuba is a free society, Serrano
initially said he didn't know because he did not live there. When pressed again, he retorted
that it is "free in some ways." As to whether its system was better than ours, Seranno would
only say the two are "different." Finally, when questioned specifically about whether free
speech exists in Cuba, Serrano replied "absolutely."

Kate O'Beirn points out the fact that the INS flip-flopped over Elian. On 12.1.99, they said
"issue of custody must be decided by the state courts." Castro bellowed and threatened to nix
migration talks between Cuban and the U.S. Now, the INS doesn't want state courts to be
involved. I have yet to see this fact brought up on television. Maybe if the public had all the
facts, they would have a different opinion.

Juan Miguel is coming to the U.S. He will arrive with his second wife and Elian's
half-brother this morning and will stay at the Cuban Interests Section in Maryland. Lazaro's
family wants Juan Miguel to come to their Miami home to settle the situation face-to-face. They
don't think Juan Miguel would be free from Castro's influence while staying in Maryland.
"If he goes to the Cuban Interests Section, we feel he is still not a free man because he
is still controlled by the Cuban government," said family spokesman Armando Gutierrez.

With Juan Miguel's arrival the INS will ask Lazaro to give up Elian although a time table
hasn't been decided. Protesters outside Elian's Miami home have promised to resist efforts to
remove Elian from the home.

Now would be the time for a miracle. If Elian is reunited with his father, it would be near
impossible to stop them from going back to Cuba. With public opinion strongly in favor
of Elian's return to Cuba, Congressmen won't take a political risk and vote to
make Elian and his family U.S. residents. I hope and pray that Congress
(especially the Republicans) come to their senses and put that bill on Bill Clinton's desk. If
not that, then I hope Juan Miguel takes the biggest risk of his life and defects to the U.S. If
Elian goes back to Cuba, he won't be Juan Miguel's son, he'll be Fidel's trophy. Castro will
proudly display Elian as his victory over the "imperialist" U.S. Elian's life in Cuba won't be
his own--it never was. He will grow up as a propaganda tool of victory. Castro's trophy of
the revolution will never be allowed to dissent, to question, or to disagree with Castro.
Fidel will never allow it.

Lance Morrow thinks all those who want Elian to live in freedom are racists. Morrow writes,
"If Elian were black, as is more than half of Cuba's population, I do not believe that there
would be anything like this outpouring of emotion. Send him back. Case closed."

WRONG! The comparison has been made that if Elian were a black Haitian, he would have been
immediately repatriated. That's correct, but that's because Cuban refugees have a special
status in the U.S. That special status is because Cuba is a communist state 90 miles from U.S.
shores. Just like people who escaped the former Soviet Union or went over the Berlin Wall, Cuban
refugees are welcomed. That's been the law for 40 years.

I know for a fact that if Elian were black I would be fighting with the same intensity I do now.
Elian's right to live free from political and economic oppression transcends skin color. Elian
deserves to live with his father in freedom, not because he's light-skinned, but because he's
human. He's a person endowed by God with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. I will not stand by and let some writer seeing the world through racism-seeing
lenses to turn this case into trial on race relations.

Wow! ElianWatch has really picked up in traffic. Unfortunately,
Hitbox isn't helping me find
out where the increased readers are coming from. If you're a new visitor, please
e-mail me
and let me know how you found ElianWatch.

I have received e-mail complaining that ElianWatch doesn't offer any opposing viewpoint. Let me
make this clear: ElianWatch is NOT a balanced and objective web site. I created ElianWatch to
document the stories and opinions surrounding Elian's case. It's one-part archive, one-part
portal, and one-part op-ed column. ElianWatch is where I link to stories and offer my thoughts.
As sole publisher of ElianWatch, I decide what I want to link to and what to comment on. This
is just my little soapbox in this little corner of the Internet.

Today, a rally is scheduled to take place near Attorney General Janet Reno's Miami home.

Tom Carter at the Washington Times has done a great job summerizing the events of the
past few days. But the most interesting, dare say, outrageous item in his article is the Cuban
government's statement that Elian is "a possession of the Cuban government." In Cuba, parents
must raise their children with a "communist personality," and children end up working on farms
away from their parents during the summer. This further discredits anything Juan Miguel has to
say. No matter how much he loves his son, ultimately, Castro has parental rights over Elian in
Cuba.

If Elian's custody case (as opposed to his asylumn case) ever came before a family court, it
would be more accurate for it to be a case between Lazaro Gonzalez and Fidel Castro rather than
Lazaro and Juan Miguel.

If Elian does return to Cuba, I hope there's no violent reaction. While protesters who broke
through baracades and formed a human chain around Elian's home chanted that they wouldn't become
violent, such high tensions don't bode well.

If the INS wants Elian they will have to do it without Lazaro Gonzalez's or his family's help.
In a statement yesterday, Lazaro said he would not prevent the INS from taking Elian, but
he said, "We cannot participate, nor will we do so."

A new offer from Castro: Juan Miguel will come to the U.S. alone only if Elian is immediately
returned to him. They would then go back to Cuba. Castro's previous offer was to bring a host
of doctors, psychologists, and Elian's classmates to the U.S. This offer should be rejected.
While Juan Miguel would be in the U.S., his family would serve as reminders that he must obey
Castro.

The Washington Post found a similar case to Elian's way back in the 1950s. A family from
the Soviet Union lived in the U.S. for a while and decided to return. State courts ruled they
couldn't take their children back. Eventually, the children were reunited with their parents in
the Soviet Union.

Even if Juan Miguel comes to the U.S., Lazaro Gonzalez's family will not voluntarily give him
Elian. They will give Elian to the INS if agents come to their Miami home. This is a reversal
from past statements.

This is not a good decision. While they could oppose Castro's ridiculous plan to bring doctors,
psychologists, and Elian's classmates to the U.S., as long as Juan Miguel can't take Elian
back to Cuba while the judicial process takes place, he should be reunited with his father.
What this decision does is make it look like the Miami relatives will do anything to keep Elian
from his father. Their ultimate goal should be to keep Elian living in freedom. Staying with
his father in the U.S. doesn't go against that goal.

Juan Miguel wrote a letter to Sens. Trent Lott (R-MS) and Tom Daschle (D-SD). In the letter, he
opposes a bill in Congress that would make Elian, Juan Miguel, and his family U.S. citizens.
Juan Miguel claims it would force him to live in the U.S. The bill would give them residency so
the INS would get out of this case. It wouldn't force Juan Miguel or anyone else to live in the
U.S. It's just more propaganda generated by Juan Miguel's handlers.

Lazaro's family produced some evidence that Juan Miguel knew Elian would be coming to the
U.S. with his mother. They have produced a phone record of a collect call coming from Juan
Miguel's father on 11.22.99--before Elian and his mother escaped Cuba.